Publications & Testimony

In a cover story for TIME Magazine, award-winning journalist and TIME editor-at-large David Von Drehle explores the decline of capital punishment in the U.S. Von Drehle offers five significant reasons for the drop in death sentences, executions, and public support for the death penalty in the United States. First, he cites persistent problems with the administration of the death penalty: botched executions and a lengthy appeals process that fails to identify wrongful convictions for decades, if…

California Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals (pictured) disqualified the entire Orange County District Attorney’s Office from prosecuting a death penalty case after finding that prosecutors had engaged in a systemic pattern of police and prosecutorial misconduct involving the deliberate, but undisclosed, use of prison informants to obtain incriminating statements from defendants. None of the 250 prosecutors in the office are now permitted to participate in the case. Attorneys for the…

In his column for TIME Magazine, basketball hall of famer, author, and filmmaker Kareem Abdul-Jabbar broadly explores the state of the death penalty In the United States and concludes that life without parole is the better option for American society. Stating that “[t]he primary purpose of the death penalty is to protect the innocent,” Abdul-Jabar notes that there is a significant difference between the death penalty’s goal in theory and its application in practice. “While it’s true that the…

The Nebraska legislature voted 30 – 19 to override the veto of Governor Pete Ricketts and abolish the death penalty. Nebraska becomes the 19^th state to repeal the death penalty, and the 7^th state to do so since 2007. It is the first predominantly Republican state to abolish the death penalty in over 40 years, and state legislators said Republican support was critical to the bipartisan repeal effort. Sen. Jeremy Nordquist said, “This wouldn’t have happened without the fiscally responsible…

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case of Timothy Foster, an African-American defendant who was sentenced to death by an all-white jury after Georgia prosecutors had struck every black prospective juror in his case. On May 26, the U.S. Supreme Court granted review in Foster v. Humphrey to determine whether the prosecution’s actions violated the Court’s 1986 decision in Batson v. Kentucky, which banned the practice of dismissing potential jurors on the basis of race. Foster challenged the…

In a discussion at the George Washington University School of Law, retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens said the death penalty creates a higher risk of error than other criminal cases and is unfair, unnecessary, and a “terrible waste” of resources. Using the Boston marathon bomber trial as an example, Justice Stevens said jury selection procedures in capital cases produce juries who are “not representative of the community.” He said that, under these procedures, “most of the 75%” of…

DPIC’s offices are closed for Memorial Day. In place of our daily “What’s New” item, we are posting a video summary of the first ten items in our series, 50 Facts About the Death Penalty. (Click Read More at end of this post for the video.) We are sharing a new fact in the series daily on Twitter and on our 50 Facts webpage, where you can find additional background information. Follow our Facebook page for a weekly video summary of the new items. (See 50 Facts webpage.)

At age 6, Clifford O’Sullivan (pictured with his mother) testified in favor of a death sentence for the man who had killed his mother. That man, Mark Scott Thornton, is on California’s death row. Now, 20 years later, O’Sullivan says he believes Thornton’s life should be spared. When he took the witness stand during the sentencing phase of Thornton’s trial, O’Sullivan told the jury, “All I think is that what the bad man did to my mom should happen to him. It’s really sad for my family ‘cause she…

Conservative commentator George Will has decribed capital punishment in America as “withering away.” In his syndicated column in the Washington Post, Will outlines a conservative case against the death penalty, highlighting Nebraska’s recent legislative vote to repeal capital punishment. Writing that “exonerations of condemned prisoners and botched executions are dismayingly frequent,” Will lists three primary reasons why he believes conservatives should oppose capital punishment: “First, the…

Nebraska’s unicameral legislature passed a bill to repeal the state’s death penalty and replace it with a sentence of life without parole. On May 20, the bill passed its third and final round of debate on a 32 – 15 vote, receiving bipartisan support. Senator Al Davis said, “There are so many reasons why we need to eliminate the death penalty in Nebraska. It’s fundamentally unfair, a terrible mistake and bad justice.” Gov. Pete Ricketts has indicated that he will veto the bill, but a veto can be…